Delaying the 5G Fund?

Small wireless carriers are asking the Federal Communications Commission to delay the implementation of the 5G Fund for Rural America. This new funding mechanism was approved by the FCC in August 2024 and is aimed at improving rural 5G coverage. On January 13, a group of nine cellular carriers petitioned the FCC to delay the implementation of the 5G Fund. On February 6, the Competitive Carriers Association filed a Petition for Review in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for DC. These pleadings recognize that there was an earlier petition from the Rural Wireless Association (RWA) that described the inaccuracy of the FCC’s cellular maps. Most people are unaware that cellular carriers must report coverage to the FCC twice a year and that the data is included on the FCC’s National Broadband Map. RWA claims the data provided by cellular carriers to the FCC is highly inaccurate and thinks the FCC should clean up the mapping data before choosing areas that are eligible for federal funding. One would have hoped that the FCC would have learned a lesson from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) about launching a funding plan based on poor mapping. But the August 24 vote to move forward is evidence that they didn’t learn that lesson.